I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 429 

To provide that in the case of a law enforcement officer who uses deadly 

force against a person, and thereby causes the death of that person, 

a hearing shall be conducted before a judge to determine whether there 

is probable cause for the State to bring criminal charges against the 

law enforcement officer relating to the death of the person, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 21, 2015 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. 

LEE, Ms. CHU of California, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. ELLISON, Ms. JACKSON

LEE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. CLAY, 

Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. BASS, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. 

DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, Mr. BEYER, Mr. NADLER, 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, and 

Mr. LEWIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide that in the case of a law enforcement officer 

who uses deadly force against a person, and thereby 

causes the death of that person, a hearing shall be conducted before a judge to determine whether there is 

probable cause for the State to bring criminal charges 

against the law enforcement officer relating to the death 

of the person, and for other purposes. 

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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grand Jury Reform 

5 Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Grand juries are typically used as the proc9 ess by which allegations of police misconduct are 

10 prosecuted. 

11 (2) There exists a symbiotic relationship be12 tween local prosecutors and the law enforcement of13 ficers who regularly testify in routine grand jury in14 vestigations. 

15 (3) The closeness of this relationship creates 

16 public suspicion that accused police officers receive 

17 preferential consideration from grand juries when 

18 they are subject to grand jury investigations. 

19 (4) Police officers have the right to appear be20 fore the grand jury investigating allegations of 

21 wrongdoing by said officer, and give testimony not 

22 subject to a thorough cross examination. 

23 (5) Grand jury proceedings are by law secret 

24 proceedings. 

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1 (6) The secret grand jury process has histori2 cally resulted in a refusal to indict when the subject 

3 of their investigation is a local law enforcement offi4 cer. 

5 (7) The recent grand jury proceedings following 

6 the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner have 

7 followed historical tradition, ending with a refusal to 

8 indict the law enforcement officers involved in their 

9 deaths. 

10 (8) The American people have lost confidence in 

11 the secretive grand jury process when it is used to 

12 evaluate allegations of police misconduct. 

13 (9) The loss of confidence in our system of jus14 tice leads to the undermining of the principles of 

15 equality and justice upon which this country was 

16 founded. 

17 (10) Preliminary hearings are often replaced 

18 with direct presentments, whereby the prosecutor 

19 may send a case directly to the grand jury without 

20 a public preliminary hearing. 

21 SEC. 3. HEARING BEFORE A JUDGE REQUIRED. 

22 (a) RECEIPT OF GRANT FUNDS.—In order for a 

23 State or unit of local government in a State to be eligible 

24 to receive Federal funding under subpart 1 of part E of 

25 title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 

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1 of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et seq.), the State shall comply 

2 with the requirements of this section. 

3 (b) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 (1) NOTIFICATION TO PROSECUTOR.—In the 

5 case of a law enforcement officer of a local law en6 forcement agency who uses deadly force against a 

7 person in the course of the officer’s employment, 

8 and thereby causes the death of that person, not 

9 later than 24 hours after the death occurs, the chief 

10 officer of the law enforcement agency of the locality 

11 in which the death occurred shall report the death 

12 to the elected prosecutor of that locality. 

13 (2) NOTIFICATION TO GOVERNOR.—Not later 

14 than 24 hours after receiving notice under para15 graph (1), the elected prosecutor of the locality in 

16 which the death occurred shall report the death to 

17 the Governor of that State. 

18 (c) HEARING REQUIREMENT; APPOINTMENT OF SPE19 CIAL PROSECUTOR.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 days after 

21 receiving notice under subsection (b)(2), the Gov22 ernor of the State in which the death occurred shall 

23 appoint a special prosecutor to present evidence on 

24 behalf of the State at a hearing before a judge in 

25 the appropriate court, in order to determine whether 

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1 probable cause exists for the State to bring criminal 

2 charges against the law enforcement officer relating 

3 to the death of the person, which determination shall 

4 be made by the judge. The Governor shall use a ran5 dom process to select the special prosecutor from 

6 among all of the elected prosecutors in the State, ex7 cluding the elected prosecutor of the locality in 

8 which the death occurred. 

9 (2) TIMING.—The hearing described in para10 graph (1) shall be held not later than 90 days after 

11 the appointment of the special prosecutor, unless the 

12 judge determines that good cause exists to delay the 

13 hearing. 

14 (3) COURT TO REMAIN OPEN TO THE PUB15 LIC.—Except as determined appropriate by the pre16 siding judge, in a hearing described in paragraph 

17 (1), the court shall remain open to the public, and 

18 upon scheduling the hearing the judge shall provide 

19 notice to the public of the date, time, and location 

20 of the hearing. 

21 (d) STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY TO HAVE

22 EXCLUSIVE AUTHORITY OVER INVESTIGATION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 24 hours 

24 after receiving notice under subsection (b)(2), the 

25 Governor shall report the death to the chief officer 

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1 of the State law enforcement agency of the State in 

2 which the death occurred, and the State law enforce3 ment agency shall assume exclusive control of the in4 vestigation of the death during the pendency of the 

5 probable cause hearing. 

6 (2) COOPERATION OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCE7 MENT AGENCY.—The chief officer of the law enforce8 ment agency of the locality in which the death oc9 curred shall cooperate with the special prosecutor 

10 and the chief officer of the State law enforcement 

11 agency by responding promptly to requests for infor12 mation related to the death. 

13 (e) WRITTEN DETERMINATION OF PROBABLE

14 CAUSE.—Not later than 5 days after the conclusion of a 

15 hearing described in subsection (c), the judge presiding 

16 over the hearing shall issue the determination described 

17 in subsection (c) in writing, and shall submit such deter18 mination to the elected prosecutor of the locality in which 

19 the death occurred. Such determination shall be made 

20 available to the public. 

21 (f) RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SPECIAL PROS22 ECUTOR.—Upon the conclusion of a hearing described in 

23 subsection (c), the special prosecutor shall submit written 

24 recommendations to the elected prosecutor of the locality 

25 in which the death occurred, including a recommendation 

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1 regarding whether criminal charges should be brought 

2 against the law enforcement officer relating to the death 

3 of the person. 

4 (g) TOLLING OF PROCEDURAL DEADLINES.—Any 

5 applicable filing or other procedural deadlines are tolled 

6 during the pendency of the hearing described in subsection 

7 (c). 

8 (h) PRESERVATION OF PROSECUTORIAL DISCRE9 TION.—The hearing described in subsection (c) shall be 

10 purely advisory, and shall have no binding effect on the 

11 elected prosecutor of the locality in which the death oc12 curred. After the conclusion of the hearing described in 

13 subsection (c), the elected prosecutor of the locality in 

14 which the death occurred shall retain prosecutorial discre15 tion as to whether to bring charges against the law en16 forcement officer, including whether to hold a grand jury 

17 proceeding in the appropriate court. 

Æ 

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